Sri Lanka’s new chairman of selectors Sanath Jayasuriya highlighted the value of senior players in the Test side.Jayasuriya reiterated that his panel would not be waylaid by past disagreements or politics, and would instead endeavour only to improve cricket in Sri Lanka.

Jayasuriya also said that Hashan Tillakaratne and Pramodya Wickramasinghe from his panel will be employed as full-time selectors, and said there would be a greater drive to unearth talent from Sri Lanka’s club system.

One of the new panel’s first tasks will be to name a new Test and ODI captain after Jayawardene stepped down from the post during the tour of Australia, but Jayasuriya would not be drawn on whether he favoured a split captaincy, nor would he name potential candidates for the job.

The new panel officially took over on February 1, and will be charged first with naming a Test side for the upcoming Bangladesh tour of Sri Lanka which begins on March 9.

CNN: Sri Lanka Tour

The Indian government has built 10,250 houses last year for internally displaced people in Sri Lanka's northern and eastern provinces. "Another 27,750 houses will be constructed.....! Indian Deputy High Commissioner in Jaffna transferred to Guyana....! Minister G.L.Peries to visit China...!